Abstrakt
Little is known about the effects of environmental variation on allometric relationships of condition-dependent traits, especially in wild populations. We estimated sex-specific static allometry between horn length and body mass in four populations of mountain ungulates that experienced periods of contrasting density over the course of the study. These species displayed contrasting sexual dimorphism in horn size; high dimorphism in Capra ibex and Ovis canadensis and low dimorphism in Rupicapra rupicapra and Oreamnos americanus. The effects of density on static allometric slopes were weak and inconsistent while allometric intercepts were generally lower at high density, especially in males from species with high sexual dimorphism in horn length. These results confirm that static allometric slopes are more canalized than allometric intercepts against environmental variation induced by changes in population density.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Oikos |
| Vol/bind | 130 |
| Udgave nummer | 12 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 2161-2169 |
| ISSN | 0030-1299 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - dec. 2021 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:– Financial support was provided to CP by the Research Council of Norway, FRIPRO program, project 287214, and by the Research Council of Norway through its Centre of Excellence funding scheme, project number 223257. Funding for the bighorn sheep and the mountain goat studies was mainly provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Alberta Conservation Association.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Oikos published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos.